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Book Blogging Truths

Recently, I've come across multiple articles criticising book bloggers; which is quite ironic since teenagers are called-upon for being unproductive repeatedly in the media. But, that is a different discussion entirely. It's what is written in these articles - and what is thought offline - that I want to talk about. It may be time that some of these myths, for those of you standing on the vicinity of book blogging, are addressed.

We are paid to write positive reviews by publishers and/or authors.

We only discuss popular books to increase our own pageviews.

We discriminate against self published - or 'indie' authors.

We don't actually read all of the books we review.

We only set up our blogs to receive free books

All book bloggers work in publishing or the media

When I began book blogging I simply joined Blogger, and, after a few hours of deliberating over the blog name, wrote my first post. It was then, after a few weeks, that I realised I wasn't the only one posting reviews. At the time I was thirteen, with no previous writing-experience apart from short stories scrawled in my English book, and I had only read one review before. Though, I soon found that some of those blogging, who were reading my posts, had started their blogs when they were eight. Admittedly, I was slightly older, but I had never been trained or taught how to contact publishers or promote my work. Why? We are not professionals. We are not seasoned journalists. We are not even all part of the publishing industry. Instead, most of us are teenagers typing in our bedrooms with a mug of tea and cramped backs.

In other news, we do read all of the books that we review. I spend hours reading; and this seems to be a surprise for some. Online, in the blogging community, our conversations are based around the books we read; whether they are borrowed from the library or sent to us by publishers for review. Those books from publishers - referred to as ARCs are sent to us in exchange for an honest review. What we write is our unbiased opinion. You could say the book itself is our 'payment', as we don't get compensated for writing a five-star review. And, most of the time, we chose what books we want to read, based on reading preferences; meaning that reviews are positive as we read what we want to.

Book bloggers don't spend hours writing posts, taking notes for the review and then piecing it together just to receive free books. Receiving the occasional upcoming-sequel, or just-published debut, is a treat, as you still have to control what you do and don't accept. Why? Running the blog itself is time-consuming, so balancing reading and writing is a huge part of our 'job'. And, our letter-boxes are not crammed to the brim with hotly-anticipated sequels every day either. I have one neatly organised pile, waiting in the corner of my room.

My last point? We do not ignore self-published authors! We have been called upon, as mentioned briefly above, for choosing more popular authors and books to feature on our blogs for better pageviews. In review-policies, it is true that a lot of bloggers - including myself - state that they don't accept self-published books, and this is for very different reasons than what has been said lately. I love 'indie' authors but, I don't love my e-reader; and this is the same for a lot of bloggers. There are problems when it comes to reading the novel. Self-published authors very rarely - and understandably - send out paperback copies, and for those who can't access a Kindle, it makes reviewing them difficult. I do a lot of reading outside during the summer, and that means I can't accept online copies instead.

Most bloggers communicate with self-published authors online using social-media. When it comes to new-releases, these are the authors that we are going to accept books from, because we want to support those who we know. From past experience, I've learnt those writers I've spoken to before have been more understanding if I have a problem or there's schoolwork that needs to be completed before I read their book. If I have some emails from a few self-published authors, and one is from an author I've gotten to know, it's only fair that I chose them. All bloggers do.

Awh dude I love this. Although I've given up book reviews for the meantime (sadly), I completely understand where you're coming from. Your points are precise and clearly communicate the common misconceptions. Great post.

I used to always accept self-published authors. ALWAYS. But now I don't so much because of past experiences. But I try and support them how I can! I love the idea that I'm supporting them and helping in getting their name out there!

I'm not doing it for that, I'm doing it because both blogging and reading are things I thoroughly enjoy, and if I can combine the two, then it's even better! It's time people got their facts straight about bookblogging and how much it actually means to us bloggers.

-We are paid to write positive reviews by publishers and/or authors- Nope, I haven't received a penny of compensation for talking about books on my blog. I also have no problem writing a bad review if I don't like a book, and I also have no problem DNF'ing a book.

-We only discuss popular books to increase our own pageviews- I have very eclectic reading tastes and read books from all genres/publishing dates. Most of the time I read/discuss books that are off the beaten path and they're not popular. This is actually one of the reasons my blog is doing so well :)

-We discriminate against self published or 'indie' authors- I only read library books. If a self-published/indie author book makes its way onto my library's shelves, then I may or may not read it, depending if it's something that catches my attention.

-We don't actually read all of the books we review- ok, that's just silly lol.

-We only set up our blogs to receive free books- I chose to not participate in any ARC programs. No free books here!

-All book bloggers work in publishing or the media- I'm a 36 year old, stay at home mom of three kids :)

I have definitely seen a lot of these. Especially the self published/indie one; which is not true at all. (Not that any of these are) I know many bloggers, including myself, who read a ton of indie. Great post!

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Compensation Disclaimer

This is just a quick note to say I do not get compensated in any way to write positive(or negative) reviews of any books on this blog. In return for a free copy of the novel, I give an honest review of the book. From September 2013, all books I have received in exchange for an honest review will have it clearly started at the bottom. Other books, for example my own copies, will not have this as they are my own books. This is to make sure I am not, in anyway, going against guidelines that I need to follow. If I ever do I sponsored post on the blog, it will be clearly stated from the above date that I was compensated to do so.Thank you!

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